A lawsuit has been filed against the Louisville Metro Police Department after a Black woman was killed by three white officers who forced their way into her home.
Breonna Taylor, an EMT employee, was fatally shot in the early morning hours of March 13 when officers forced their way inside and “blindly fired” after they were met by gunfire inside the home.
Taylor, 26, was asleep in bed with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who heard a commotion and went to investigate around 12:30 a.m.
The officers were at the wrong house, serving a warrant on a suspect who lived across town and was already in custody.
The cops breached the front door “without knocking and without announcing themselves as police officers,” according to the suit filed by Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, who is being represented by attorney Benjamin Crump.
“The defendants then proceeded to spray gunfire into the residence with a total disregard for the value of human life,” the lawsuit alleges. “Shots were blindly fired by the officers all throughout Breonna’s home.”
Taylor was shot eight times and died in her bed. Walker, 27, was not hit. He was arrested and charged with assault and attempted murder on a police officer.
The lawsuit states Walker had a license to carry and kept firearms in the home for protection.
Crump is also representing the father of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black male who was shot and killed by 2 white men in Brunswick, Ga. on Feb. 23.
Crump called out the police department for not taking responsibility for the way their officers serve no-knock warrants.
“We stand with the family of this young woman in demanding answers from the Louisville Police Department,” he said in a statement on Twitter.
A spokesman for the Louisville police said, “Due to an ongoing internal investigation into this situation, we are not able to comment at this time.”
